Mandeville overcomes sluggish Game 2 to post 3-1 win

Overcoming a Game 2 loss, the Skippers didn’t trail in the final two games as they beat Slidell, 25-17, 21-25, 25-11, 25-15.

Ranked No. 6 in the latest Advocate Large School poll, Mandeville (18-11, 9-1) was led by Sam Gomez’s 12 kills, six aces and two blocks. Kailynn Haley had seven kills and Emily Boylan added six kills and seven blocks in the win. Sarah Rinaudo had 14 assists and Ali Leblanc had 17 digs.

“We went down in Game 2 and knew we had to come back,” Mandeville captain Marissa Lecompte said. “The coaching staff gave us a good speech and just really motivated us to play our best and I think we did it from that point on. We didn’t trail the final two games and were able to come away with a big district win. This was an important match for us to win, and we came back and fought through our mistakes and did that.

“We picked up our energy particularly in the service game. We are happy we did what we had to do. I don’t know what happened early with the serves, but we were able to overcome it. This entire team really wants to win a district championship and this win helps us get closer to that goal.”

After capturing the opening game in strong fashion, the Skippers service game struggled in a game two loss.

“The first two games we had 17 service errors,” Mandeville coach Jody Walker said. “The last two games we had five. That’s a big difference. We never allowed ourselves to get the chance to get the points to win Game 2. You have to give credit to Slidell. Every time we missed a serve, they would capitalize and come back and score another point.”

The Skippers rebounded the final two games and corrected the mistakes, never trailing the final two games.

“I tried to hold the team accountable for their actions in the first two games,” Walker said. “To our team’s credit, they bounced back and did what they were suppose to do. I’m proud of them. It sets up a big game Tuesday against Northshore for the district championship.”

Ranked No. 8 in the Advocate Large School poll, Slidell (18-13, 6-4) was led by Riley Herdliska’s nine assists. Erica Bennett had nine kills and Kacie Livingston had eight digs.

“It wasn’t an attractive game on either side of the net,” Anderson said. “It was pretty ugly tonight. Nobody seemed like they wanted to win. We don’t set the tone well. Our tone is we fall behind, and we have seemed to do that all season. When you do that against good teams, you are not coming back.”